Functional Linkages Evaluation Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 9

Functional Linkages Reports

Functional linkages are the connections between habitat conditions and fish populations. Evaluating functional linkages helped the Green/Duwamish and Central Puget Sound Watershed (WRIA 9) develop and prioritize management actions for the salmon Habitat Plan.

There are two reports, one for each phase of the evaluation process:

• Phase 1: Toward an Understanding of Functional Linkages Between Habitat Quality, Quantity, and Distribution; and Sustainable Salmonid Populations: A Review of Analytical Approaches and Recommendations for Use in WRIA 9 (December 2003)(Adobe Acrobat 840 KB)
   
• Final WRIA 9 Conservation Hypotheses - Functional Linkages Phase 2 (November 2005)(Adobe Acrobat 661 KB)
   
• Appendices (Phase I and 2) (Adobe Acrobat 1.5 MB)

The Functional Linkages Evaluation was Task 6 of the eight-step Strategic Assessment. As a consultant to the watershed, Anchor Environmental prepared the reports with active involvement of the WRIA 9 Technical Committee.

The Phase 1 report compares and contrasts a number of analytical models or tools and discusses the opportunities and issues associated with their application in WRIA 9. Seven approaches were selected for review and comparison:

• Ecosystem Diagnosis and Treatment (EDT),
• EDT-Light,
• SHIRAZ,
• Qualitative Habitat Assessment (QHA),
• Salmonid Watershed Assessment Model (SWAM),
• Cumulative Risk Initiative (CRI), and
• A synthesis of best available science related to salmon ecology and historic versus current habitat (Ecological Synthesis Approach).
  

The Phase 2 report summarizes the results of the Ecological Synthesis Approach recommended in Phase 1.

Other Strategic Assessment reports